


Sweetie

by MarySunshine23



Category: Strange Men (Video Games), The Hanged Man (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Mental Health Issues, Mentions of Rape, mentions of trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:47:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26101402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarySunshine23/pseuds/MarySunshine23
Summary: Sometimes when things are overwhelming and scary, the best thing you need is a kind voice whispering sweetly addicting reassurances.Edward is a good boi
Relationships: Original Female Character/Edward Hayes
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Sweetie

**Author's Note:**

> Let me start by saying that when I wrote this character, I accidentally created a timeline that wasn't canon. I misunderstood that Edward and Rob were 8 and 12 when the "incident from 15 years ago" happened. (For some reason I didn't process the 15 and thought it was 5.) So if you're confused by the behavior, that's why.

_“A-Are we truly e-evil?”_

_“Of course not. Priests are all ‘holier than thou’ assholes who need to put others down to stroke their own ego.”_

_“D-Don’t say bad w-words…”_

_“Huh? Oh! Sorry about that…”_

_“...”_

_“Humans by nature are flawed. We make mistakes. No one can help the circumstances we’re born into… No one can change that I was born into homelessness, just like no one can change what your dad did to you… I believe that if He does exist, God put us in these situations to help us grow; not to punish us.”_

_“Y-You should be a p-priest, Lala. Y-You’re so much k-kinder than the o-others.”_

_“Women can’t be priests, Ed. At least not as far as I know… but that’s kind of you to say... We’re good people! And we can make a difference, regardless of what that stupid priest says! Right, Ed?!”_

_“A-Are you sure?”_

_“Huh?”_

_“W-We can’t work… and w-we’ve done bad th-things… betrayed others…”_

_“Ed… look, I know I said actions speak louder than words, but our actions alone don’t define us. Ed, you’re such a kind and gentle person. You work hard every day to become a functioning member of society. You have a good spirit… that priest doesn’t know a thing about you.”_

_“I-If you say so…”_

_“I do say so! When we build up our strength and abilities, we’ll find each other in the outside world and prove that we are more than the sum of our parts! We can only be responsible for our own happiness, and trying to make others happy is a fool’s errand.”_

_“B-But… what if we c-can’t be happy?”_

_“Ed… Happiness is not something easily attainable… But if we focus on the what-ifs, we’ll be too scared to try.”_

_“A-Are you scared?”_

_“Of course I am, dummy! I’m terrified! But I know it’s possible, because I find small pieces of joy everywhere. Reading books, listening to music, and spending time with friends like you make me happy!”_

_“L-Lala!”_

_“Come on, Ed. I’ve told you before we’re friends. Don’t get all flustered now!”_

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Lola picked up the phone before sitting on the floor, “Hello?”

 _“Is this Lola? Lola Hatfield?”_ Hm? This voice seemed familiar, but… Lola looked at the phone before bringing it back to her ear

“Yes. Who’s asking?”

_“I’m Robert Hayes, you were friends with my brother back at Deep Woods Shelter.”_

“Oh! That’s why you sounded so familiar. How are you doing?”

_“I wish I could say well, but my brother is in trouble. I sent him back to the shelter for now to hide out, but I need someone to keep an eye on him until I get there. I figured since you two were close, you might be able to help.”_

“Of course,” Lola stood up, “I’ll go over there now. Thank you for telling me.” She hung up before grabbing her purse and jacket before leaving. In the tail end of autumn, it was starting to get cold; but fortunately it wasn’t snowing.

Unlike Rob and Ed, Lola didn’t have a family to stay with, so she couldn’t afford to live somewhere nice. But it meant that she lived close to the freeway, which was close to the road towards what used to be Deep Woods Shelter. She practically had it memorized with how often she wandered there on her days off. Granted, it had been her home for years before they were all booted out after the event. It didn’t take long for her to reach the gate, now locked shut with a padlock. Not that she needed that to get in, it wouldn’t be the first nor last time she scaled the surrounding wall. She walked around the building before finding a set of footprints in the dirt, and despite not being an expert, they seemed fresh. She nodded to herself before going into a hole in the wall. She knew Ed wouldn’t fit, but she also knew that if he was inside, he’d probably look for his old room, and she could get there quickly from this entrance.

Lola trotted through the facility, only taken a few minutes longer to get to her destination due to the hazards of a decaying building. She peaked in the doorway to see a figure in the corner. She used the flashlight on her keys to illuminate the room.

“I thought I’d find you here, Ed,” she said gently. Edward visibly jerked, whipping around to look at her.

“L-Lala!” he sighed, though slumped to the floor. Taking a careful look, Lola quickly figured out what sort of trouble her friend had gotten into. Blood was caked on his hands and face and had stained his shirt. “I-I didn’t mean to… I d-don’t remember what h-happened… I j-just-”

“Shhh, it’s okay,” she said, kneeling down, “You don’t have to tell me. This is a very scary thing, isn’t it?” She watched as his blue eyes welled up with tears as he shakily nodded. She nodded back before opening her arms, almost knocked backwards when Edward clung to her.

“I-I didn’t mean to!”

“I know.”

“It h-happened so quickly!”

“I’m sure it did.”

“I got s-so mad, m-my head hurts s-so much!” Lola stroked his hair as he sobbed into her shoulder. What did he do? He was such a gentle person, he couldn’t have done it out of nowhere. He wouldn’t do something so cold blooded. “I’m so s-sorry, Lala! I-I don’t know what t-to do!” She held him as he shook, trying to sooth away his terrified tremors.

“I need you to calm down a bit more, Ed,” she spoke softly, “If you’re so panicked, I will have a hard time understanding what happened. I’m not going anywhere, take your time.” What could she do? What could she say? She didn’t know the situation, so all she could think was to be present.

It was unclear how much time passed, but slowly Edward went from clinging to Lola to resting his head on her lap as she continually stroked his hair.

“Lala…”

“Hm?”

“I k-killed my father.” Lola rested her hand on Edwards head by his ear so she could focus on his words. “I lost m-my job at the Ch-Chinese place, and he got m-mad at me… The n-next thing I know he’s…”

“Oh, Ed… what a scary thing to go through,” she said as she put a hand on his shoulder, “I’m so sorry that happened, my dear. He treated you so poorly, and then he causes something like this to happen.”

“He… c-caused… But I-”

“Edward, we both know that when someone goes against your morals, you lose yourself,” Lola said, “Remember how often you’d come to and I’d have you in a basket hold? Sometimes it was best to lie to avoid upsetting you. Your brother even said that you struggled with it at home too.”

“B-But I killed my d-dad, Lala! No one will l-listen to w-why!” He clung to her shirt as he looked up at her, “I-I did something bad!”

“You did, Ed. I’m not saying that you didn’t,” Lola took his hand and lowered herself to look him in the eye, “But your dad knew just as well as the rest of us that you had an issue. And I know you were trying your best to earn enough to get the help you need, which is honorable; truly it is. But you didn’t need him antagonising you like that. Yes, you did something bad by killing him, but he was asking for it by baiting you.”

Edward's eyes welled up before sobbing into her stomach.

“I didn’t mean to!”

“I know, baby, I know!” Lola cradled him the best she could, “We all know that in the right mind you would never do something like that! There isn’t a cruel bone in your body, my dear, anyone who knows you knows this… but you are very right, you did something bad. You should do what’s right.”

“I don’t want to g-go to prison!” his nails dug into her shirt and hand, “I-It was on accident!”

“Sweety, no one said you were going to prison. I said it earlier, you have issues. And those issues can make it so you are not guilty by insanity,” she explained, stroking the back of his hand with her thumb, “It’s a nasty title, but if you go with that, then not only will you not go to prison, but the government will help you get the help you need. Things are already so hard for you, you don’t need more added onto it.”

“I-I can really do th-that?” Edward looked up at her, “Th-They’d really help me?”

“Of course,” Lola nodded, “I’ve told you many times, Ed; you’re a good person. One look at you and people will already doubt your guilt.”

“But we can’t risk that.” Lola looked over her shoulder to find Robert standing over them, “We can’t risk Ed going to prison for this.”

“Rob, do you seriously intend to keep your brother here?” she asked, “I’m telling you, he has a better chance going to court! If he runs away from this, his sentence will be longer and they won’t even offer a plea bargain. If we go back now-”

“We’re not going back!” Rob snapped, “Look, I appreciate you coming and trying to sooth Ed, but we’re absolutely not going to the police. I abandoned him before, and I’m not doing it again.”

“Oh, so you’d rather keep him in a run down building with no heat, no electricity, no plumbing, and no food?” Lola narrowed her eyes, “I’ve lived in places like this, and I’d much rather be in prison.”

“So you’re the expert? Come on, Lola, if we turn him in now, he’s dead.”

“First of all, you don’t know that. Second of all, if I have to pick between him being here and running for the rest of his life or him atoning for this in prison where he gets food and medication, then yeah I’d pick prison,” Lola rolled her eyes, “But those aren’t our only two options.”

“The other options are-”

“Stop it!” both stopped, looking down at Edward, “N-No more fighting… please!!” The dark haired woman sighed, looking at Robert; who glared back at her.

“Fine, if you’re going to be stubborn, I’ll stay out of it,” she held up her hands, “It’s not like I have experience with the law or anything. Oh wait, I do.” She rolled her eyes before kissing Edward on the top of his head, “You know where my shop is if you need me, sweety.”

.

.

.

“... Th-This person’s a detective, huh… I saw him in a magazine once…” Edward looked down at the unconscious man on the floor, “H-He’s a bad person… he kills… lots of people…”

“Huh?!” a young teen seemed both confused and horrified.

“G-Good… Y-You wouldn’t… have been enough… Because n-now I need to make up for Rob… and not just dad…” Edward crouched down towards the detective, “I’m g-glad I met him too.. Now I can… clear up two misfortunes… and b-be happy…”

“Ed… stop it…!” The teen boy shook in fear, “This is just a joke, right…?!”

“D-Don’t move, Will… Just f-follow me and don’t do anything…” Edward looked over at the teen with a smirk, “O-Or else, I’ll snap his neck…” Before Will could do anything, Edward was grabbed from the open caged room behind him, causing him to yell out.

“W-Wha?!”

“Go! Run! Contact the police, now!” Will didn’t question it, running as fast as he could. Edward tried to escape, to chase down the blond teen, but he found himself being pushed into his own lap and his arms unmovable. “God dammit! If you hadn’t listened to your stupid brother, this all could be avoided!”

“B-But Mr. George said-”

“Screw him! He and all the others believed what that stupid priest said, and because of that innocent people had to die! I told you already, that priest and priests like him are full of shit!”

“D-Don’t say bad words!”

“Will you listen to me if I do?” Edward didn’t respond, but stopped struggling, “Look, if we had done what I said in the beginning, none of this would have happened. But as long as you don’t kill this detective and that kid, you can still use the insanity plea bargain. When they ask you why you ran, why you avoided the police, tell them the truth. Tell them you were scared, and so was your brother. I’ve already told them about-”

“W-What happened to your no snitching policy?”

“As much as I hate the police, I hate the idea of you continually running away and never getting the help you need more. I know there’s a big chance I’ll get in trouble too, but Ed… If you go through with Mr. George’s ritual, you’ll just go to prison.”

“B-But… I killed Rob…! He k-kept saying bad words, and I-”

“Oh Ed… I know you’re scared. You’re scared and desperate. But Rob wouldn’t want you to do this…”

“I-I didn’t mean to…”

“I know, sweetie, I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of inspiration for Lola came from my sister. She shared her experience of running away from home and being homeless. Compared to my sister, Lola got off easy.
> 
> As for Lola's relationship with the Hayes brothers, she was very close to Ed and almost frenemies with Rob. Because of her own anxieties, she had a hard time getting close to Rob. Meanwhile, Lola and Ed attempted to call each other every night to keep in touch with each other, but Ed's phone bill put a strain on that. The only saw each other every so often for about a month before Ed got fired from the Chinese place and killed his dad.
> 
> The [basket hold](https://youtu.be/68b3b91kQfQ) is a more gentle restraint for people who are either having an emotional meltdown or for people who are physically lashing out. From my understanding, you don't have to be bigger than the person you're restraining, you just have to be stronger.
> 
> You can find out more about her on her [profile](https://www.notebook.ai/plan/characters/978989).


End file.
